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The Power Rack Workout

The Power Rack Workout

Find a power rack, do this workout, and get on your way to becoming bigger, faster, and stronger.

You, a power rack, 5 exercises, and a buncha 45lb plates. What else could you ever want or need? If you’re trying to build muscle and gain strength, the answer is “nothing.”

Gone are the days of messing around with machines or free weights. If you’re serious about putting on big boy size, the power rack (doing these exercises) is where you need to park yourself for a no nonsense workout routine.

Barbell Squats: We know em and love em. A foundation piece for any athlete workout. But don’t short change yourself. Go as low as you can and try to get your ass to your ankles. If you find yourself doing glorified calf raises and only getting down to 45 degrees, drop some weight. Once you’ve got the weight locked in, bang out 4 sets of 8 reps here and keep it moving.

Bent Over Barbell Rows:This back exercise is occasionally forgotten as pull-ups seem to get all of the press nowadays, but it’s one of my favorites. You can go normal or reverse grip here, but go big either way. Pull the bar into your bellybutton while maintaining a bent over, athletic stance, making sure your lower back doesn’t curve.3 sets by 8 reps and you’ll be straight.

Good Mornings: If you’re a loyal 1R reader, chances are you already do a lot of exercises in your gym no one else is doing (seriously how many of your friends are busting out the RFESS?). And here’s another to add to your list. Good for strengthening the lower back and hamstrings, it’ll use all your stabilizer muscles too. Knees slightly bent, lowering the weight down in a controlled motion then back up. Let’s go 3 sets by 10 reps here.

Push Presses:
Dubbed by Coach DeMayo as one of the best exercises for athletes, the push press is pure power. Different from a standing military press because you’re driving up through your legs while bending your knees to help push the weight up, the push press is one of the only upper body exercises that hits your whole body. Bring the bar down to the top of your chest, exploding back up over your head while using your momentum from the ground up. A crowd pleaser and guaranteed pump every time, go 3 sets of 6 on this one.

Barbell Curls:
It kills me when I see guys curling 15’s or 20’s. Not because of the lightweight, but simply because they’d be better off doing chin ups instead. I don’t condone massive set and rep schemes for biceps, but if you’re gonna do some curls grab some heavy weight and bang out 3 sets of 5 reps. If you gotta swing your body a little, no big deal, just don’t go overboard with it.

As the days grow colder and your appetite grows larger, it’s clear the time has come to really start getting after it. I couldn’t think of a better place to do that then from under a barbell on a power rack. Bang these out and let the results speak from themselves. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and hit me on my new twitter account @jshez19.

To build muscle as fast as humanly possible using the power rack workout, 1R would recommend the following supplements:

BSN Amino X - This preworkout supplement will increase muscle endurance and protein synthesis, while giving you with the needed push to take your workouts, and results, to the next level

Cytosport Creatine - By increasing your body's ATP production creatine will help you become more explosive, more powerful, and more athletic when taken before or after workouts

About the Author

Jake Scieszka, SHEZ if you will, is a regular contributor to OneResult.com and is a certified trainer at Equinox’s flagship location in New York. He is certified as a personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and played junior hockey in Binghamton, NY before getting his bachelor’s degree from NYU.